Zürich Schlaflos, the other Travel guide to Zurich, Switzerland

The man drinks regularly. He smokes. He is a gourmet and art lover. A voyeuristic gambler with nostalgic tendency to glorification and a toilet fetish. And he is your faithful travel companion for Zurich.

Netcetera, a software company from Zurich, Switzerland, has created this unique podcast available on iTunes Store for your iPod or iPhone.

Two authors on behalf of the transporting enterprises Zurich (VBZ) did come up with the content. Philippe Amrein and Thomas Wyss gathered 60 marvelous stories about cool places along the 32 and 4 Bus lines for the new Podcast “Zurich sleepless” along Langstrasse and Niederdorf.

If you are going to Zurich (and speak German, or have a personal guide...) follow these bus lines and discover Zurich as you wouldn't imagine.

Travel history, part II

Bridgewater Canal: AD 1759-1761

In 1759 a young self-taught engineer, James Brindley, is invited to visit the duke of Bridgewater. The duke is interested in improving the market for the coal from a local mine which he owns. He believes his coal will find customers if he can get it more cheaply into Manchester. He wants Brindley to build him a canal with a series of locks to get barges down to the river Irwell, about three miles from the mine.

Brindley proposes a much bolder scheme, declared by some to be impossible but accepted by the duke. He will construct a more level canal, with less need for time-wasting locks. He will carry it on an aqudeuct over the Irwell on a straight line to the heart of Manchester, ten miles away.

On 17 July 1761 the first bargeload of coal is pulled along the completed canal. Brindley's aqueduct (replaced in 1894 by the present swing aqueduct) crosses the Irwell at Barton. The strange sight of a barge floating in a gutter high up in the air becomes one of the first great tourist attractions of the Industrial Revolution. The investment in this private canal rapidly pays off. The price of the duke's coal is halved in the Manchester market.

The Bridgewater canal is the first in Britain to run its entire length independently of any river. It is the start of the country's inland waterway systerm, for which Brindley himself will construct another 300 miles of canals.

Will this hotel ever been completed?

In 1987, the Government of South Korea did start with this tremendous project called Ryugyong. A hotel with 3000 rooms, 360'000 sqm space and 7 revolving restaurants in the heart of Pyongyang.

It supposed to open in 1989, but it never did.

But lately, a photo captured workers completing the windows and other bits and pieces of the facade. The Egyptian construction company Orascom is apparently working on it.

Do you know more about this hotel project? Please write comments...

Working in the Tourism Trade - Don't we have a trully unique job?

A sentimental note for once, but not just a simple one, no. It is a sentimental note with a call for attention, a call for inspiration and last but not least, a call for opening our eyes.

We all are travelling to some of the most amazing places on Earth, and it is a great priviledge (at least for me) to belong to those who have the chance to broaden their mind and view of life to more then just my next country.

As an inspiration, enjoy this beautiful video.

How to cook your own meal at the Park Plaza Hotel

Enjoy!

Cool idea for a hotel bed, part II

Here comes another cool idea for a hotel bed:

The Floating Bed

Conventional furniture is in contact with the earth through gravity. Floating Bed overcomes this fundamental power and falls towards the sky. Four thin cables assure its motionless position and form the only contact with the ground.

Thanks to the smart use of permanent magnetic material Floating Bed can carry a load of 900 kilogram. With a floating distance of 40 cm. one can think of different functions such as a bed, sofa, Japanese dining table, display for products or as a base for a floating pavilion. The magnetic field on top of the Floating Bed is strongly reduced, so bank cards will not be erased.

Architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars (33) worked for six years with several specialists, under which Bakker Magnetics, on the development of Floating Bed. It is a project that only recently reached its technical realizability.

Intriguing:
The shown object here can be seen as the captured form used by Stanley Kubrick in the 1968 movie '2001: A Space Odyssey'. The monolith, as Stanley Kubrick and science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke suggest, must have been made by other powers than those responsible for the usually circular planetary bodies and other more liberal forms, such as organisms. The rectangle as a metaphor for the existence of intelligent life.

Singita

Singita, South Africa's best

The Experience

Opulent décor decor and excellent service accompanied by some of the best game viewing in South Africa make Singita arguably the most exquisite game lodge in the country. Located both in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve as well as in a private concession within Kruger National Park, Singita offers five distinctive accommodation choices, each with a common lodge and an outcropping of guest suites. What sets Singita apart from scores of other safari lodges is not just dramatic décordecor, but an attention to detail that’s painstakingly maintained in the game experience itself. Rangers who oversee your game drives possess an astounding mental history of migrations and herds within the region, and will entertain you with firsthand tales from the bush as you make your way through the savannah.



The Rooms

Singita is composed of five unique lodges, each an entity unto itself, with a common area and 10- to 12 suites each. While each they all offers a similar experience and the same high quality of food and service, they differ by décor decor and mood. Ebony offers perhaps the most traditional, “Out of Africa–”-like experience; heavy four-poster beds, double-sided fireplaces, and massive teak decks with private plunge pools echo ancient Africa and a wildlife-rich bush experience. The white leather and linen of Boulders is not far off, offering a more starkly modern accommodation with a similar bush experience. Sweni— -- on the banks of a river— -- and the very contemporary Lebombo (with dramatic lofts set into a cliff of falling water) are for those seeking a more secluded setting with less active game drives, while Castleton is ideal for small gatherings like wedding parties or family reunions.

The Service

Rangers walk you around the property to ensure that stray wildlife doesn’t get too close; and staff here is happy to wait on you, but they don’t fawn over you. Rangers are top-notch; they’re well-versed in the habits of local wildlife and show real enthusiasm tracking animals.

The Highlights

Dine on in the privacy of your private deck, or join other guests on the common deck as you choose from a buffet of South African and international fare such as fresh fruit, green salad, ostrich fillets and bobotie (a sort of South African Shepherd’s shepherd’s Piepie). And you’ll never go thirsty: Singita claims the best bush cellar in Africa, with over more than 12,000 bottles buried in a rock beneath the lodge. Still, you come here to see game, and here you’re unlikely to see clusters of Land Rovers roaming the wilderness looking for animals. Drives are often very exciting, as you can drive off-road and at night, and it’s not uncommon to spot a black rhino or a large pride of lion. Better still, take a one-on-one guided bush walk and return for cocktails on the verandah, drinking a glass of chilled Cabernet as the sky’s glowing fireball slowly sinks below the green horizon.

Summary

I had simply three of my greatest days at Singita!